Goose Goslin
Originally posted July 2, 2012, at Ben Unseth’s Red-Letter Ideas.Republished with permission of the author.
“Of course it’s true — I found it on the Internet!” How much confidence do those words inspire in you?
My son found a sales position on the web a couple weeks ago. When he went in for the interview a couple days later, the “interviewer” tried to make him buy $250 of knives so that he could do a better job selling them. He walked out. I’m cautious about what I find on the Internet.
On Friday a friend showed me a recipe on the Internet for making a red, white and blue soft drink. What could be cooler for the Fourth of July! However, call me “Doubting Benjamin.” Could it actually work? Doubting Benjamin went to the grocery store and bought the ingredients. Voila! Yup, some things on the Internet are true!
Do preachers publish falsehoods on the Internet? What if you don’t know what’s true?
Through the month of July, I’m preaching through the first three chapters of Ephesians. The series is “1st Base…2nd Base…3rd Base…Home: Learning from Baseball and Saint Paul.” I say all that because of my Internet challenge for preaching Sunday on “1st Base: It’s All About Jesus.”
In homiletics class back in 1985, I heard this amazing story that compared missing Jesus to not touching first base. Thanks to the Internet, I was able to find the story. According to the Internet, in the seventh game of the 1924 World Series, the New York Giants and the Washington Senators were tied in the ninth inning. The Giants failed to score. The Senators had two outs when Goose Goslin came to bat. He knocked the ball to the outfield fence, and the outfielder chased the ball down and threw it to the infield. Goslin slid into home, missing the catcher’s tag or knocking over the catcher — depending on which account you read. The hometown crowd was ecstatic until the umpire threw his thumb in the air and shouted, “Out! He never touched first base!”
It’s a great story — but is it true? You can find several versions of the story written by pastors, including one by D. James Kennedy.
However, I cannot verify the story from anywhere on the web other than preachers. Is Goose Goslin’s lost home run fact, or is it myth? I preached with the story on Sunday — after confessing that it might not be true.
It was excruciating to dance around the lack of authentication about Goose Goslin! I can’t imagine what preaching is like for those who understand the Bible’s miracles as myth. If you can verify or disprove Goose Goslin’s lost home run, I would love you to leave a comment.
Find a link to Ben Unseth’s blog Ben Unseth’s Red-Letter Ideas at Lutheran Blogs.
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Does it really matter whether this story is factual or not? The purpose of the story is to convey Christ, and for preaching purposes, as long as it manages that, it doesn't matter whether the story is factual or not. It's not about one freak occurance in the 1924 World Series (because honestly, how many times do people miss 1st base in a World Series game vs missing Jesus in their daily lives anyways?) but about the here and now of the congregation.
Part of the problem is that the story is framed as us needing to find Jesus. We do need to, but we can't, even though our lives depend on it. The Good News is that Jesus goes to the cross in order to find us, and our lives instead depend on Him finding us.
Unlike the previous commenter, I do think it's a VERY important issue if you intend present it as a true story, using real names, dates, and references (what with the Ninth Commandment being what it is and all). In a case like this, when I find a perfect illustration phrased as a factual account and yet there is reasonable concern that it may be embellished or completely fabricated, I will sanitize it of those names, dates and references and rewrite it, introducing it with something like, "Let me tell you a little story: Imagine it's game 6 of the World Series, the score is tied with two outs at the bottom of the ninth, and the home team's star slugger steps up to the plate..." etc.
Incidentally, the story in question is NOT true as it is often told by preachers. It has been embellished and changed around and should not be presented as a factual account. The actual incident is a famous (though considerably less dramatic) debacle that occurred in 1908. The errant batter/baserunner was Fred Merkle, not Goose Goslin. Below is an excerpt from an account of the incident from the ESPN website. It's from an article entitled "Sadly, One Play Defined Merkle's Career, Life" and it was written by Ed Sherman.
"The Chicago Cubs and New York Giants were locked in a dramatic pennant race when they met on Sept. 23, 1908. With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Merkle, who had singled, was on first base and Moose McCormick was on third. With two outs, Al Bridwell then hit an apparent single to drive in McCormick with what seemed the winning run. It looked to be a huge victory for the Giants, and jubilant fans mobbed the field at the Polo Grounds. But in the commotion, Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers noticed Merkle never touched second base.
Evers frantically waved for the ball, and there's considerable dispute about whether he actually got the game ball. Evers then stepped on second and umpire Hank O'Day called Merkle out on a force, thus nullifying the Giants' run.
Despite O'Day's ruling, the game couldn't go on because of all the fans on the field, and it was declared a 1-1 tie. Merkle's nightmare then was compounded when the Cubs and Giants finished the regular season tied. The Cubs won the one-game playoff to win the pennant, propelling them to their last World Series title.
Merkle, who was only 19 at the time, was vilified. The Sporting News wrote of 'the stupidity of Fred Merkle.' Newspapers quickly labeled him 'Bonehead.'
Merkle went on to become a decent player during a 16-year career, finishing with a .273 average. He had 49 stolen bases in 1911...
Yet Merkle never seemed to get over the top. He was on the losing side of six World Series. When he was blamed for a botched popup that helped cost the Giants the 1912 World Series, the headlines blared, 'Bonehead Merkle does it again.'
'Sometimes it looks like the Cubs and Merkle got jinxed at the same time,' Stalker said.
That day in 1908 forever haunted Merkle and his family. After he retired and moved the family to Daytona Beach, Fla., his daughter came home from school and asked why the kids were calling her 'Bonehead.'
Once a visiting minister in his church began by saying, 'I want to begin by admitting an ugly secret. I am from Toledo, Ohio, birthplace of the infamous Fred Bonehead Merkle.'"
Merkle promptly walked out."